The Korean Debacle The Testing Ground of US-USSR Relations
OLIVER, ROBERT T.
The Korean Debacle The Testing Ground of US-USSR Relations By Robert T. Oliver MARCH 1 meant little I* ImoMiilii il'tal d|Sjr beginning of the Iransition from Winter to Spring. To Korean*...
...But it is pertinent to add a few more things to the bill to broaden the perspective of the difference between the Senate version and the House version of H.R...
...This is what thsy announced: New price increases—6...
...Yet the fact appears to bs that the French rsquaat is a minimum, not a maximum...
...Truman decided not to attend, levin isn't coming...
...Of all the defeated powers, none but Germany has been subjected to similar treatment...
...The Ave members sre to be appointed by the President with the advice and conssnt of ths Senate...
...Korean* have had to endure the ahame of being treated not as a liberated, but as a conquered country...
...In 1906 the fate of Korea was decided in the wholly American city of Portsmouth...
...Senator Taft's latest amendment will be as soundly beaten as his other efforts to knife labor...
...It may be that Russian troops and Communist stooges—will really be withdrawn...
...It hardly seems probable that the French Government will be able to get the amount It requests...
...If conciliation or mediation fail, the Board may "seek to induce the parties voluntarily to submit the controversy to arbitration...
...Recapitulstion of weekly totals for the past four weeks: Price decreases—1...
...They have seen many empires rise and fall, while their own sea and mountain-girt country went on in its relatively undisturbed way...
...Its people are patient...
...With the Japanese driven out —with Korea once again a free nation, standing now shoulder to shoulder with the United Nationa she had aided so valiantly in her long underground fight— Seoul waa to be draped with flags...
...Now the Japan*.™ are gone...
...Box SCORE FOR SKEPTICS: Eleven press releases issued by OPA were received this week by the Washington Bureau of The New Leader...
...Thit wss beaten 10 to 4. Senator Ball tried to amend the bill to require a 60-day waiting period before a strike could be called, and to eatablish it as a "duty" by law for employers and employees to avoid strikes...
...s * *¦ e eta A INOTHER notable visitor in Washington this week ¦ I eon Blum, who ia here in the role of a special Ambassador of the French Government...
...The duties of the Board will be to "encourage" employers" snd employees to settle their differences by "conferences" and "other peaceful means...
...Hyngman Rhee and other patriots who are striving ta prevent a break...
...The League said no...
...History will be written in New York next week...
...How many, In fact, shall we deserve...
...It will have five members, each after the Initial set-up serving for five years...
...4 great many requests for loans have •sen made, and the total is far beyond what the Export-Import Bank has st its command...
...Such committee' would have been empowered only to investigate the disputes and make reports, but not to take any action...
...She also displayed a map of the location of concentration camps in Russia, together with data on conditions in them, declsring "this is a blueprint of the 'half-slave' part of the world...
...Ths Board will abeorb the US Conciliation Service and the conciliation and mediation functions of the Secretary of Labor...
...For the next war in which we And ourselves engaged, how many friends shall wa have...
...The stature of this session appears to be dwindling...
...The Board will be responsible directly to tha Congress and will report to that body annually...
...In 10,000 years it will be all the same...
...its opening: "That the CongTess hereby declares that the objectives of this Act are to encourage settlement of disputes between labor snd msnsgement by collective bsrgsinlng and by conciliation, mediation and voluntary arbitration, thereby minimizing industrial atrife, strikes, and lock-outs...
...Hia problem is to obtain a credit of $2,500,000 from the United States...
...Note to Chester Bowles: Attaboy, Chester, hold that line...
...When Korean liberation is finally accomplished, ami a Korean Minister attends the functions of the Department of State, it would be unwise to try too herd to read the emotions so neatly concealed behind his surface calm...
...And many responsible authorities go so far as to aay privately that if the Russians don't get out of Iran, the UNO from that moment will be aa . dead aa the League of Nations...
...That was defeated 9 to 6. In another attempted amendment, Senator Ball tried to exempt from the coverage of the Wagner Act supervisory employees or foremen who tpend st least 80 percent of their timl in supervision of other workers snd not more than 20 percent in production work...
...But pardon them, gentlemen^ if they ' have an attack of mal de mer when they hear us Americans talk of the ideals governing our conduct of foreign affairs...
...That wss defeated 9 to 6. Senstor Donnell tried to remove the board from the Department of Labor...
...Shall we continue to appease this new aggressive power...
...Their country waa cut in two, with the northern half ruled by the miliary forces of Russia, the southern part by tha United Sis ten...
...And Korea is actually in some ways worse off than it had been under Japanese rule...
...And, Anally, the bill states thst nothing in it shsll be construed as impairing the Nstionsl Labor Relatione Act or the Federal Anti-Injunction Act...
...He arrived in Washington and before he could get his hat off, Iranian Ambassador Hussein Ala formally handed him the official protest Iran it filing with the Security Council sgainst the continued presence of Russian troops in his country...
...Hereafter, he allii m« in effect, Rusaia will be expected to obey the law of nations, jutt aa the othera do, The double ttandard of international ethic* is to be annulled...
...It is being fought in the diplomatic ofjees of Moscow and Washington, and in the minds and consciences of Americans...
...Luce introduced evidence that all three of the men would be refused entry into France, which was the last country they were in before coming to the United Stakes...
...When Byrnes needed a stout .support to lean on in Moscow and at Potsdam, the man oho could have helped him the most was all wrapped ap with the affairs of Liberia...
...The pre.n.t Battle of Korea ia not being fought in that country...
...It is probable that the Iranian Ambassador obtained information on how far the United States can be depended on by Iran in the controversy with Russia...
...Some day, they have faith, the scales of justice will be righted, arid Korea will once again be restored to its own government...
...Reconstruction to put Frsnce en its feet aa that it can take care of itself thereafter would require another $1,500,000,000 at least The problem before our fiscal experts* therefore, is whether we can help Frsnce •tend on its own feet or whether our help must be limited to keeping Frsnce *rom sliding down hill any further, ess Within the next day or two (as this ffi being written), the bill which may fMeome the "Federal Mediation Act of ai46" will be approved by the Senate atducation and Labor Committee under **e chairmanship of Senator James E. Hurray, Montana Democrat...
...The bill contains a unique note of senior—on the face of it...
...In case you've for-g'.tua, that's what Chairman Murray's Senate Committee hss done to the nofo-iSoiis Case Bill ss it wss originally in-traduced in the House...
...who Sersonslly appeared before the com-littee to plead for the lives of the three men—Alexander Kalinin, Paul Lougbine and Leon Razwadowsky...
...In contrast to the crowds of children clinging eagerly to every American in the southern sons, this fearful eveidanee was tragically revealing...
...It's s brand new bib...
...They were not represented at Portsmouth...
...When the appeasement policy of Rusaia was instituted, toy Henderson was shelved—the department's most eminent expert on Russia was shunfe'd to the Division of African Affairs...
...Thia was . beaten 9 to 6. s An this is being written, there arc still two more amendments to corns before the Senate Labor Committee...
...They have seen many mistakes made and survived...
...Genersl explanatory—2...
...Joe Guffey, (D., Ps...
...It is not Koreans who have foisted this responsibility upon us...
...There ia nothing of a coercive nature in the bill aa it will come from the Senate in the next dsy or two...
...The Case Bill as it passed the House would just about wipe out all of labor's economic gains since 1982...
...Clsre Boo the Luce (R., Conn...
...Ambassador Ala will go to New York to plead hia country's case before the Security Council...
...It may be the promise will be kept of letting the Koreaaa elect a civil government to help administer their own affairs...
...The Senate bill establishes a Federal Mediation Board as an independent agency of the government in the Department of Labor...
...The populace ia terrorised...
...In the name of power politics they had been tossed into Russian hands now, sh they once were sacrificed to (he Japanese...
...Price controls suspended—8...
...In Seoul American soldiers have been atoned in the street*—and many more would be were it not for the earnest pleas of Dr...
...Thus ths bill acts op a system of voluntary eonailiation, mediation and arbitration...
...In the northern half of Korea, the rich industrial areas are being stripped by the Russians, on the theory that tinea ownership waa registered aa owned by Japanese, this wealth is legitimate spoils of war...
...One ia by the indefatigable Senator Taft, designed to forbid "secondary boycotts" in cases where union workers refuse to handle products of an employer involved in a labor dispute...
...It may be the present ambiguous "trusteeship" will actually be terminated within five years...
...The dignified figure of Ambassador Ala may go down in history at a parallel with Haile Selassie...
...After the British Loan came into negotiation, it waa announced generally as a matter of policy that henceforth aU loons by tha United States would be mads through the Import-Export Bank...
...Ta Korean nationalists the day af disillusionment came when they realised the incredible (ruth that once again (as in 1905) they had been sold out...
...But it is a program for which honest liberals can properly take their stand...
...it is again our responsibility...
...And they were not present at Yalta, where the decision to toss half of Korea to the Russian militarists was made...
...1*HREE Russian stowaways, who hsva spent months on Ellis Island in fesr for their lives if they are returned to tha Soviet Union, would be permitted entry into the United States under a bill favorably reported this week by the House Committee on Immigration and -Naturalization...
...In ]94r...
...Lure read to the committee an oath of allegiance taken by members of the Red Army, in which they swesr that "under no Conditions will I be taken alive as a prisoner of war," and added that, if necesssry, they will kill .themselves rather than be taken prisoner...
...Kores is an old country...
...March 1, 1946, was the 27th anniversary of the Korean Revolution that set up its Provisional Government...
...Secretary of State James A. Byrnes has latterly taken a Arm stand...
...The Board's conciliation and mediation services should be utilised only ae a* hist resort and in exceptional casee in the settlement of grievance disputes...
...Thit is not the moment for publicity, feot, at least, while he it the guest of the Government, Blum ii op against a difficult problem...
...snd Forrest C. Donnell (R...
...On Monday of this week an effort to break down the constructive approach of the Senate's bill was made by Senators Allen J. Ellender (D., La...
...The bill adds, however, on the letter point a proviso: "Provided, That the failure or refusal of either psrty to agree to arbitration shall not he deemed to be s violation af any duty or obligation imposed by thia Act...
...The Koreans have fought hard for their freedom.-They have fought for a full generation under incredible difficulties and with no shadow of help or encouragement...
...How the devil, they asked, csn anyone call this an amendment...
...It ssjrs on the *i a page: "Amendment (in the nature eg »¦ substitute...
...Aa the late FDR would have laid, thit it aa extremely "iffy" supposition...
...He insists that the period of appeatement it Over...
...These sections mske it clear that tha liberal Senators who will approve it are intsnt on supporting and strengthening ths democratic process of collective bargaining...
...It will "assist" parties to labor disputes to settle disputes through conciliation and mediation...
...Senator Taft triad to emend the bill to make unions subject to suit in order to enforce contracts...
...The Board "may proffer" its services in a labor diaputc...
...What this means it is too early to tell, but from the impressions obtained in Washington one might think the boys are going to a funeral . . . 0f the UNO...
...Japan itself has been much better treated...
...They had no voice at Cairo...
...their freedom, without fear and without restraint...
...4908, as ths Csse BiU Is officially known...
...Elbert D. Thomss (D., Utsh), Claude Pepper (!>., FLv), Lister Hill (I)., Asa...
...And the League died...
...IM* Wheeler, junwsnwjnn*, opM* mixed vividly the wretched ntste of the Koreans under Russian power, lit ft brief jeep trip through selected arean north of the 38th parallel, he observed that the children drew back from his jeep Ift fear, and fled if he stopped...
...The Battle of Korea J OHN CARTER VINCENT, head of the Division at Far Lantern Affairs in the United States Department of State, has declared that Korea it the testing ground of future relations with Russia...
...The pint sixed King of Kings dared to brave Italy's mighty Dure and demand justice for his country from the League of Nations...
...So they stuck in that phrase "in the nature of a substitute" in parentheses...
...Shall we continue to tremble before the "war of nerve...
...According to reliable information...
...Although neither man would discuss the subject of the conference, there is a double significance here...
...3. It it the policy of the United Ststes that "(a) Sound snd stsble industrial peace and the advsncement of the genersl welfare, heslth, and safety of the nation and of the best Interests of employers and employees csn best be secured by the settlement of issues between employers snd employees through the processes of conference snd collective bargaining between employers and the representatives of their employees...
...Particularly interesting is the bill's ststement of Public Policy...
...Dsnnis Chaves (D., N. M.), James M. Tunnell <D., Dels...
...If thin assurance may lie taken at face value, it may be that March ], 1947, will be the day of freedom Koreans have anticipated for to long...
...I In the meantime, Norway's Trygve Lie, arcrelary-general of the UNO, hasn't had a chance to draw an uniioubled breath...
...This week Ambassador Ala had a private conference with Loy Henderson, head of the State Department's Dice of Middle Eastern Affairs...
...How will thia story wind up...
...Men and women who were born in bondage to the Japanese, who grew up hating them, and who devoted their lives to the sscred cause of restoring Korean nationality, who risked everything in the uprising of 1919, and who have loyally supported their.exiled government ever since —these patriots endured every hardship and torture with the conviction that one day the Japanese would be defeated, and their own country would be restored to them at long last...
...Now Ambassador Ala dares to bravo Russia's mighty Stalin and demand juatice for hit country from the UNO...
...The Senate version states in...
...from tip to top the peninsula was to be filled with joyous, laughing crowda, celebrating...
...As an official at the French Embassy explained it, the amount needed to keep things in France from getting worse is $1,000/100,000 But that's putting a finger in this dyke, not repairing the break...
...What s day of rejoicing that first March anniversary in freedom was to be...
...Now the Koreans look at Americana with half-averted eyes...
...Sec...
...Price increases— 88...
...UNO Faces Acid Test ¦y JONATHAN STOUT irw TASHINGTON, D. C, March 19.-There it n ? t nrav> fading 1,1 Washington about the meet-, ing in New York on Monday of the UNO Security Council...
...When they got through, their conscience bothered them...
...That was defeated IS to 2. And Senstor Ellender tried to establish a fact-finding: committee in labor disputea involving public utilities whose rates are Axed by law...
...The cause of Democracy and the Four Freedoms hat triumphed...
...snd George D. Aiken, R., Vt...
...Pro-Soviet Koreans, reared and educated in Siberia, are being forcibly installed in local and provincial ofc.es...
...When the bill got to tha Senate Labor Committee, the liberals in the Senate started amending it...
...Only once, while in KuHHian-conlrolled territory, din ft single child grnst hint, and sren that young ster did no timidly, ready to turn and rnn at the ft rat evidence of anger...
...Present levels msintsined—17...
...Maintenance of present pries levels—3...
...Mrs...
...Even in the dark days of 1942, they refused to truckle to the Japs, and still fought for our cause, in the belief that it was also their own...
...On-Monday Blum began a aeries of conversations With high government oficisls in Washington...
...When Ambassador Ala presents the case of his people before the Security Council in New York next Week it will mark the fever crisis in the life of the V-NO, That is practically the unanimous opinion in Washington...
...With moving eloquence, the Connecti- , cut Congress woman pleaded before the committee that if these men were returned to their native land, they would be liable to execution or imprisonment, because two of them had been taken prisoner by the Germans during the war, and all of them had demonstrated their desire to reach a democratic country.' Mrs...
...To Korean* everywhere, from New York, to Los Angeles, to Seoul and Fusan' and Pyongyang, it was a day of spiritual sickness—a compact of anger, bewilderment, and despair...
...The stalwarts who have been Aghting labor's battle in the Senate Committee are Chairman Murray add Senators David I. Walsh (D., Mass...
...In another section of the bill, there is this further noteworthy paragraph: "Final adjustment by a method agreed upon by the partite is hereby declared to be the desirable method for settlement of grievsnce disputes arising over the application or interpretation of an existing collective bargaining agreement...
...It marked the culmination of a struggle that has been life-long for Koreans...
...He has not yet seen the press formally and probably will not hntil aext week...
...Blum it enjoying the hoapitality of the United Stales at Blair House, the Government'a guest houaa lor distinguished visitors...
...Robert A. Taft (R., Ohio), Joseph H. Ball (R., Minn...
...It could even be that property stolen by the Red Army (quite in the spirit of the Mongol hordes of the Middle Agea) would'be restored...
...The measure was introduced by Rep...
Vol. 29 • March 1946 • No. 12
